The show takes place Saturday, Oct. 25 at the LA Sports Arena and Exposition Park, which seems to be L.A.'s new go-to place for festivals (same place FYF Fest is now being held). Tickets are $114, or $275 for a VIP ticket.

The comedy and music festival will feature a who's who of alternative comedy and comedy-friendly musicians, including:

I have been a huge fan of strong female comedians since I can remember. My first memory is probably of Joan Rivers on the Muppet Show or in The Muppets Take Manhattan. If you have not yet seen her recent documentary A Piece of Work, you must do so right now. Amazing stuff.

I can't remember a time when I didn't love Bea Arthur. I was too young to watch Maude, but I was instantly in love with The Golden Girls. I think I honestly just wanted them all to be my grandmothers. How awesome would it be to go to Miami for the weekend to stay with Blanche, Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia. I am sure this was not every kids dream. But it was mine. I didn't have some Harold and Maude type fantasy. I was gay after all. But I just wanted to hang out. Talk about current events. Make fun of celebrities or people in general. I loved that sarcastic and humorous outlook on life. And The Golden Girls might have been the first show that I remember to feature gay characters. There were other shows of course. But not many. Dorothy's old friend visits and turns out to be lesbian and falls in love with Rose. Blanche's brother visits and comes out to her in his golden years. And of course the very first episode features a gay housekeeper. My favorite character was of course Dorothy, played by the amazing Bea Arthur. If there is one celebrity I could go back in time to hang out with or have dinner with, It would probably be Bea Arthur. She was hilarious and sarcastic. But also brutally honest and warm and sincere. She loved her friends and her family more than anything. But she understood a good joke and could never be mad at anyone for too long. She was sort of my role model. And she also got me in love with the female comic. Gay guys have always flocked to the female comic. There just are not that many out gay male comedians. At least there weren't in the '80s and '90s. So these comics were all we had to relate too. And honestly, they were a whole lot better than any of the gay male comics that I had seen or heard about. Female comics were sort of outsiders just like the gays. Bea Arthur probably opened the doors for a lot of these women. At least the TV comic. There would probably be no Roseanne without Bea Arthur. I seriously can't imagine my life with either one of them.

I have been a big fan of Janeane Garofalo for years -- ever since I saw her in Reality Bites in 1994, when she played Vickie Miner. She reminded me of my friends; she was somebody that I would hang out with. I fell in love with her all over again in Romy & Michele's High School Reunion in 1997. She has showed up in tons of TV shows over the years. SNL, Larry Sanders, Seinfeld, Ellen, The Ben Stiller Show, West Wing,Strangers With Candy, Law & Order, & Dr. Katz! She is currently filming a new version of Criminal Minds. She has also just released a new stand up DVD this week called If You Will. It was filmed live in Seattle, the perfect place to see her. Janeane is busy filming her new show so I only managed to get an email interview out of her, but I was excited to meet her...via email, anyway. Here is our email conversation...

Brad: Hey Janeane! Thank for doing this interview for the Amoeba blog! I have been a big fan of you for years. You tend to work a lot on television. Do you prefer it to working on films? I know that SNL is one of your least favorite shows you have worked on, but what is your favorite? Felicity, Larry Sanders Show, 24, West Wing?

My personal goal for about a year now has been to watch all the Harry Potter movies. I had resisted for a while and since I missed the first couple in the theater, I felt like I could never catch up in time. But when the Half-Blood Prince got delayed, I figured I finally had a chance to watch the first 5 so I could see the sixth one in the theater. Of course, the months went by and all of a sudden it was July and I only had a couple of weeks to watch them all -- still, I knew I could do it. I was not sure if I was going to become obsessed with the movies like everyone else had, but I figured I would at least enjoy them. I did probably have time to read all the books as well, but I have been reading about 5 books the last couple of months all at the same time, so I didn't think I could both read the books and see the movies. I also thought I might enjoy the movies more without reading the books. It has been very rare to actually end up liking a movie version of one of my favorite books. I get really attached to the characters in the book and how I feel they should be portrayed. And turning a long book into a 2 hour movie is always hard. You always have to cut stuff out, it is just impossible not to. So I ended up having the benefit of going into the films not really knowing much about them or having any interest in how the books or characters were portrayed. I knew Harry Potter was some sort of magical British wizard that went to some boarding school type school for young wizards. Other than that I really didn't know what to expect. I sort of have a weird dislike for British children in movies, and I wasn't really excited to see them flying around with capes and wands, which is part of the reason I had stayed away from the series...But I couldn't resist any longer. It was too big a piece of pop culture for me to miss out on.
So I finally sat down and watched all 5 movies in about 7 days and ended the run by seeing the sixth movie in the theater last week. I watched them with a big fan of the books and the movies and I tried to find out what happened in the movies before it actually happened but he wouldn't tell me and left me in suspense. It was nice to have someone there to fill in the blanks when I tried to figure out what had just happened after the movies ended. The last couple of movies were my favorites. I like when they started to get darker and I loved the introduction of Helena Bonham Carter's character, Bellatrix. Almost every British actor seems to pop up in one of the movies, and there are a lot of my favorites. I love Gary Oldman, who plays Sirius Black, and Emma Thompson, who plays Sybil Trelawney. Miranda Richardson is also brilliant as always, as Rita Skeeter. And of course, Maggie Smith is perfect as Minerva McGonagall. The best thing about these movies is really the cast. It really is a perfect cast in all the movies. Two of my favorites of the younger cast are Evanna Lynch, who plays Luna Lovegood, and Shirley Henderson, who plays Moaning Myrtle. I wouldn't say that I am now an obsessive Harry Potter fan, but I am for sure a fan. The movies are really fun for people of all ages. I wouldn't mind going back and reading all the books at some point. I have heard they are really fun to read. Maybe my goal can be to read all the books before the last 2 movies come out in 2010 and 2011. I think I can find the time.

Lately I’ve been listening to and watching a lot of Michael Ian Black. So when the Amoegods* let it be known that we Amoebloggers might consider posting some musings celebrating Black History Month, I thought, “How fortuitous!” For nothing says Black History Month more than uproarious comic Michael Ian Black.

Like most people who are exactly like me, my introduction to Mr. Black came in the form of beloved sketch comedy show The State. Because Mtv is run by terrorists who hate America, however, you younger generations haven’t been able to enjoy The State on DVD, but must settle for choppy YouTube clips like the one below, in which the aforementioned Mr. Black plays the concerned home-owner.

Most fans of The State carry with them a sense of desperation and compulsion to seek out any projects to which a former The State cast member signs his or her name to (i.e., Reno 911, The Ten, the Oklahoma City bombing, etc.). This blog entry isn’t for them, because I’m going to showcase things they already know. If you qualify as a fan of The State, why not click on this link and enjoy reading this instead…

Now that we’ve gotten rid of those losers, let’s you and I learn a little more about Michael Ian Black and his contributions to comedy. Take notes and pay close attention, because I’m not going to repeat myself and you’re never to read this post again.